US president Donald Trump has ruled out sending troops to Iran, saying it would be a \u201cwaste of time\u201d, but indicated he would like to see Iran\u2019s leadership structure removed. \u201cWe want to go in and clean out everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The IDF also conducted renewed strikes against what it described as Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Hundreds of thousands of people in the southern suburbs of the city were ordered to leave their homes by the IDF yesterday, causing scenes of panic.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they had fired missiles towards Tel Aviv after an earlier wave of explosions caused a blaze at a residential building in the city.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.52 EST<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n IDF claims 50 jets bombed Khamenei’s underground bunker ‘still being used by Iranian officials’<\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has destroyed the underground bunker of the slain Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, which it claims is still used by senior Iranian officials.<\/p>\n The IDF said approximately 50 Israeli air force fighter jets dropped about 100 bombs on the site, which it claimed was located under Iran\u2019s \u201cleadership complex\u201d in Tehran, spreading across multiple streets and including \u201cmany entry points and rooms for gatherings of senior members of the Iranian terror regime\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement, the IDF said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe underground bunker was built beneath the compound and was a secure emergency asset for managing the war by the leader, who was eliminated before he managed to use it.<\/p>\n After Khamenei\u2019s assassination, the compound continued to be used by senior Iranian regime officials.<\/p>\n There was no immediate comment from Iran.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.37 EST<\/p>\n ‘Plenty of oil’ in markets despite Middle East turmoil, says IEA chief<\/p>\n The head of the world\u2019s energy watchdog has sought to allay fears over a global oil crisis as the conflict in the Middle East escalates, saying there is \u201cplenty of oil\u201d in the markets due to a \u201chuge surplus\u201d.<\/p>\n This is despite reports that fuel oil traders in Asia are struggling to secure alternative \u200bsupply as US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> and Tehran\u2019s retaliatory strikes curtail shipments from key Middle Eastern suppliers through the Strait of Hormuz, where about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil is shipped through.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is plenty of oil, we have no oil shortage,\u201d Fatih Boril, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told reporters in Brussels. \u201cThere is a huge surplus in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are facing a temporary disruption, a logistical disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n The oil price is on track for its biggest weekly gain in four years, fuelling fears of an inflation spike that will reignite the cost of living crisis and hurt growth around the globe.<\/p>\n For more updates on the economic impact of the Middle East conflict, follow our business liveblog here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.17 EST<\/p>\n UK home secretary Shabana Mahmood said police and security services \u201cwon\u2019t hesitate to take action\u201d after four men were arrested in the UK on suspicion of spying on Jewish communities for Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n Posting on X, she said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe Jewish community and the wider public will understandably be concerned by today\u2019s arrests. We continue to monitor the situation closely and engage with those affected.<\/p>\n I can reassure you that our police and security services are world leading and won\u2019t hesitate to take action to counter any threat to the UK.<\/p>\n They will continue to use the full range of tools and powers available to them to keep this country safe. They have the government\u2019s full support as they carry out their vital work.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.16 EST<\/p>\n Israel official says bombing campaign in Iran going ‘much better than expected’ – report<\/p>\n A senior Israeli official said the US-Israeli military campaign in Iran was going \u201cmuch better than expected\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody could have expected such smooth execution,\u201d the unnamed official told the Times of Israel. \u201cWith such payloads being dropped, and such a complex level of coordination required \u2013 no one could have anticipated such success so soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The official went on to describe Israel\u2019s achievements as \u201cepic\u201d.<\/p>\n US and Israeli officials said their militaries have all but seized the skies over Tehran, having reportedly destroyed most of Iran\u2019s air defences and missile launchers. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes were \u201cabout to surge dramatically\u201d, while the Israeli military indicated that it has begun a new phase in its bombing campaign, with \u201cadditional surprising moves in our hands\u201d.<\/p>\n The Iranian army, meanwhile, vowed to continue targeting Gulf countries in retaliatory strikes, including US military bases located across the region.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past few hours, various types of destructive drones of the army\u2019s ground forces have targeted American military bases in Kuwait in large numbers,\u201d the Iranian army said today in a statement carried by Iran\u2019s semi-official Mehr news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThese attacks will continue in the coming hours.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>‘We were humiliated’: Israel’s attacks on Beirut cause mass displacement crisis<\/p>\n Taz Ali<\/p>\n Displaced families in Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut huddle on the streets to break their Ramadan fast, forced out of their homes in the southern suburbs by the Israeli military following a large-scale evacuation order.<\/p>\n The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said nearly 100,000 people have been displaced within Lebanon and tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in the country have fled back over the border. It described the situation in the region as a \u201cmajor humanitarian emergency\u201d.<\/p>\n News agencies on the ground have spoken to some of the displaced people, many of whom have been forced to flee their homes once again as Israel<\/a> renewed its strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the beleaguered country.<\/p>\n Displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes in Beirut\u2019s southern suburb of Dahiyeh sleep near the city coast. Photograph: Hussein Malla\/AP<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sleeping here in the streets \u2013 some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach,\u201d Jamal Seifeddin, 43, told Reuters. \u201cI\u2019ve never slept on the ground like this. I\u2019ve been forced to. No one even brought a blanket.\u201d<\/p>\n One man, who declined to give his name, told AFP: \u201cWe fled from the suburbs, we were humiliated. We\u2019ll sleep on the road tonight and God alone knows what will happen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN human rights chief, Volker T\u00fcrk, said the evacuation order issued by the Israeli military for southern Beirut raises serious concerns under international law, \u201cin particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer\u201d.<\/p>\n Children displaced by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photograph: Joseph Eid\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.56 EST<\/p>\n Azerbaijan withdraws diplomats from Iran<\/p>\n Azerbaijan is withdrawing diplomatic staff from Iran for their own safety, foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov said.<\/p>\n His comments come a day after Azerbaijan said four Iranian drones had crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave.<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking at a press conference<\/a> today, Bayramov said Azerbaijan was evacuating employees from its embassy in Tehran and its consulate general in Tabriz north-west of Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot put the lives of our people at risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.08 EST<\/p>\n US probe of Iran school strike must ‘happen very quickly’, says UN rights chief<\/p>\n Volker T\u00fcrk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has urged the US to move \u201cvery quickly\u201d with its investigation into a deadly strike on a school in Iran, which Tehran has blamed on the US and Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iranian officials said the attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls\u2019 school in Minab, which happened on Saturday at the start of the US-Israeli combing campaign on Iran, killed at least 165 students.<\/a><\/p>\n Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, continued to deny responsibility for the strike, saying it was being investigated and that Americans \u201cnever target civilian targets\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Geneva today, T\u00fcrk said:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cWhat we have asked for is obviously prompt, transparent and impartial investigations, which we understand has been announced by the United States of America.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need this to happen very quickly and we need to also make sure that there is accountability as well as redress for the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n Iranians attend the funeral ceremony of the victims of an airstrike on a girls school in the city of Minab, southern Iran. Photograph: EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Qatar\u2019s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi said it could take \u201cweeks to months\u201d for energy exports to return to normal levels even if the war ended immediately, following an Iranian drone strike at the country\u2019s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.<\/p>\n He warned the conflict in the Middle East could \u201cbring down the economies of the world\u201d, as the world\u2019s second-largest producer of LNG was forced to declare what is known as force majeure, when a company is freed from contractual obligations in the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond its control.<\/p>\n While a small proportion of Qatar\u2019s gas is exported to Europe, he said the continent would be affected as Asian buyers outbid Europeans for whatever gas is available on the market.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,\u201d Al-Kaabi told the Financial Times.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.41 EST<\/p>\n Sri Lankan president calls for peace as Iranian sailors seek refuge on island<\/p>\n The president of Sri Lanka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has urged for peace, after his country allowed an Iranian ship to dock in one of its port and allowed 200 crew members to enter the island.<\/p>\n Sri Lankan officials brought 208 people on the vessel to the capital Colombo while their ship, the Irins Bushehr, was into custody in Trincomalee on the east coast.<\/p>\n Authorities are still searching for people who are believed missing after a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship Iris Dena off the Sri Lankan coast on Wednesday. Rescuers found the bodies of 84 people in oil-slicked water while 32 lives were saved. The 180-crew Iris Dena was on its way home after taking part in naval exercises hosted by India in late February, officials said.<\/p>\n Sri Lanka navy personnel assist Iranian sailors during a rescue operation after responding to a distress call from their vessel, the Iris Dena, on Wednesday. Photograph: Sri Lankan Navy\/Reuters<\/p>\n In a statement posted on X, Dissanayakes said:<\/p>\n double quotation markNo civilian should die in wars. Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own. We jealously guard our non-aligned policy while ensuring that humanitarian values and the saving of lives remain our top priority.<\/p>\n What the world urgently needs today is peace. There is a real risk of a severe global economic crisis, and entire societies are facing serious and complex challenges.<\/p>\n We call upon all parties to demonstrate a firm commitment to peace. As a state, Sri Lanka stands ready to support every step toward ending hostilities. All our actions are aimed at saving lives and ensuring that humanity prevails.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.41 EST<\/p>\n Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist. She has written this opinion piece about the disappearing fantasy of Dubai portrayed by influencers:<\/p>\n To be fooled by a mirage, you needn\u2019t be lost in the desert. Sometimes, the illusion is strongest just when you thought you were safely home, posting from the pool about your teenage daughter\u2019s spa party and your own glittering life in a city where \u201cthe possibilities are endless\u201d, as they tend to be for billionaires\u2019 daughters living in tax havens. Only then does the fantasy explode in a puff of intercepted missile smoke, leaving just another woman in her pyjamas telling Instagram (as Petra Ecclestone did at the weekend<\/a>) that she moved to Dubai \u201cto feel safe\u201d and war was never mentioned in the small print.<\/p>\n Who could have guessed that living a few hundred miles as the drone flies from Tehran might have risks? Certainly not the anonymous hedge funder who fumed to the Financial Times that \u201cthe trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n But if it\u2019s hard to sympathise with the super-rich, as they discover that there are some things money can\u2019t buy, then they are not the only Britons trapped in the Gulf. The deal Dubai offered economic migrants \u2013 which is what Britons seeking a better life in the Gulf are, much as some will hate the label \u2013 was a kind of real-life Truman Show: a sunny, shiny, sterilised low-crime haven for anyone itching to get rich or stay that way, sustained by stiff penalties<\/a> for anyone publicly shattering its illusions.<\/p>\n Alongside the wealth managers, property agents and taut-skinned trophy wives who always accompany the mega-rich are an army of younger temporary workers to clean their pools and nanny for their kids and teach them pilates, many of whom have families back home now worried sick. Gloat if you must that they are now finding out why other people stay home in the rain, but schadenfreude is a grim look when fellow human beings are sleeping in their basements as the tyrannical Iranian regime tries to kill them.<\/p>\n You can read the rest of her opinion piece here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.43 EST<\/p>\n Pictures: People forced to flee from southern suburbs of Beirut as Israel<\/a> strikes Lebanese capital<\/p>\n Displaced people at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut. Photograph: Khalil Ashawi\/ReutersA man with his family fleeing Israeli airstrikesbuilds a fire to keep warm along the Beirut coast. Photograph: Hussein Malla\/APChildren displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut rest at Martyrs’ Square. Photograph: Khalil Ashawi\/ReutersDisplaced families seeking safety set up tents in the central square of Beirut. Photograph: Khalil Ashawi\/ReutersA view of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in Beirut. Photograph: ReutersSmoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs in Lebanon. Photograph: Hussein Malla\/APShare<\/a>![\"Gaby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gaby-Hinsliff,-L.png\")
Gaby Hinsliff<\/p>\n